England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who made his Ashes debut in 2015 at Cardiff was allegedly racially abused by an Australian cricketer during the first Test.

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has made sensational revelations of being racially abused by an Australian cricketer during the 2015 Ashes series. Ali, who is of Islamic faith has claimed that he was called 'Osama' by one of the Aussie players during the first Test of the series at Cardiff. He revealed about the incident in his autobiography which is soon to be released. An excerpt from the book, mentioning the incident was published by English newspaper The Times which brought the incident into the light.

In Ashes 2015, Ali had a magnificent debut as he went on to score 77 runs with the bat and also scalped 5 wickets in what turned out to be an easy victory of England. While he was content with his individual display, Ali allegedly was left red-faced when an Australian player made a racial remark towards him. He later told his coach and teammates about the incident but the particular player denied making a racial remark.

"It was a great first Ashes Test in terms of my personal performance, however, there was one incident which had distracted me," Moeen wrote.

"An Australian player had turned to me on the field and said, 'Take that, Osama'. I could not believe what I had heard. I remember going really red. I have never been so angry on a cricket field. I told a couple of the guys what the player had said to me and I think (England coach) Trevor Bayliss must have raised it with Darren Lehmann, the Australians' coach," he added.

The then Australian coach Darren Lehmann upon being told about the incident asked the Aussie player about the incident. However, the player in question denied doing any such thing.

"I must say I was amused when I heard that, obviously I had to take the player's word for it, though for the rest of the match I was angry," he added.

Reacting to Moeen's allegations, Cricket Australia (CA) has decided to launch an immediate investigation into the matter. Cricket Australia will follow up with the England and Wales Cricket Board to seek further clarity into the incident.

"Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, or in society. We have a clear set of values and behaviours that comes with representing our country," a CA spokesperson was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.

"We take this matter very seriously, and are following up with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) as a matter of urgency to seek further clarification around the alleged incident," he added.

Moeen who returned to the England Test squad for the India series played an instrumental role in the hosts' victory in last two games. He picked 12 wickets in the two matches that he played against Virat Kohli and co including a five-fer and a four-fer. England won the 5-match series 4-1.

'Australian player called me Osama', Moeen Ali makes sensational revelations of racial abuse during Ashes 2015Description:England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who made his Ashes debut in 2015 at Cardiff was allegedly racially abused by an Australian cricketer during the first Test. Times Now